Results 7,641-7,660 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (18 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 332 and 334 together. The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years or over. This includes people aged 66 or over, such as missionaries, returning from abroad to live in Ireland. All carers in receipt of carer's allowance and carers of people in receipt of constant attendance or prescribed relative's allowance,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (18 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The aim of the national fuel scheme is to assist householders on long-term social welfare or health service executive payments with meeting the cost of their additional heating needs during the winter season. Fuel allowances are paid from end-September to mid-April. The allowance represents a contribution towards a person's normal heating expenses. A detailed review of the fuel allowance...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The following tables detail the number of posts filled in my Department under various categories for the past five years. Table 1: Total Number of Posts filled in Department of Social & Family Affairs Year Number of Posts 2003 193 2004 270 2005 224 2006 369 2007 (to end Oct) 381 Table 2: Number of posts open to existing public and civil servants only Year No of posts open to...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The information requested is currently being compiled within the Department and will be made available to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The living alone increase is an additional payment of €7.70 per week made to people aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and who are living alone. It is also available to people who are under 66 years of age who are living alone and receiving payments under one of a number of invalidity type schemes. The increase is intended as a contribution towards...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a one-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when their children start school each autumn. The allowance is not intended to meet the full cost of school clothing and footwear but only to provide assistance towards these costs. A person may qualify for payment of an allowance if they are in...

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The Government has made significant improvements to the carers allowance and Carers Benefit in recent years. The number of hours a person can work and continue to receive payment has increased from 12 to 15 hours per week. The income disregard has been increased in Budget 2008 to €332.50 for a single person and €665 for a couple. The respite care grant was extended to all people...

Written Answers — Child Support: Child Support (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The reduction and eventual elimination of child poverty is a national priority and at the core of the strategic process to combat poverty and social exclusion, as set out in Towards 2016, the National Action Plan for social inclusion (NAPinclusion) and the social inclusion commitments in the NDP. Children growing up in low income or jobless households are the most vulnerable to poverty. A...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The state pensions contributory and transitional include, where appropriate, an increase for a dependent spouse or partner. This increase is means-tested and a full increase is payable where a spouse's income is less than €100 per week, and reduced rates are payable until income exceeds €300 per week, up from €280 before the recent Budget. The decision is made on the basis of the...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: Budget 2007 provided for the telephone allowance to be extended to cover mobile phones. Under this new arrangement, customers have the choice to opt either for a direct credit to a telephone company for their landline as before or for a cash payment in respect of their mobile phone. This means that it is no longer necessary for a person to have a landline installed in order to benefit from...

Written Answers — Departmental Programmes: Departmental Programmes (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The Disability Awareness training programme, in accordance with my Department's Disability Sectoral Plan, is currently underway. To date, training has been provided to staff in my Department's decentralised headquarters office in Longford which has responsibility for the administration of the main disability-related schemes. All Access Officers, who are at senior management levels, have...

Written Answers — Departmental Strategy Statements: Departmental Strategy Statements (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: A strategic review of the website was completed in June 2006 which recommended a full redesign and redevelopment of the website. Work is currently underway on the development of the new website which is scheduled for implementation in the second half of 2008. A promotional campaign to encourage greater use of the website will be undertaken thereafter.

Written Answers — Departmental Programmes: Departmental Programmes (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: In July 2006 my Department launched its Sectoral Plan under the Disability Act 2005. The plan is aimed at developing services that not only give people with disabilities financial security but encourage maximum participation in society. One of the objectives of the plan is to engage meaningfully with persons of working age, particularly marginalised groups and provide services directly and in...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The information requested is currently being compiled within the Department and will be made available to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The person concerned is in receipt of maximum rate Widow's (Contributory) Pension of €191.30 plus € 21.90 fuel allowance, per week. As her spouse had worked in England, the relevant information was referred to the Department of Social Security in Newcastle upon Tyne (DHSS) to assess her eligibility for a widow's pension. It is a matter for that Department to advise the person concerned of...

Written Answers — Ministerial Appointments: Ministerial Appointments (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: The information requested is currently being compiled within the Department and will be made available to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (19 Dec 2007)

Martin Cullen: To date, 177 posts have relocated from the Department's Dublin Offices to Carrick-on-Shannon and Sligo, of whom 65 were Dublin based and 112 were provincially based. In addition, a further 136 employees, of whom 104 are Dublin based and 32 are provincially based, have transferred to this Department's existing decentralised offices in Dundalk, Letterkenny, Longford, Sligo and Waterford to...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (30 Jan 2008)

Martin Cullen: The State pension (transition) was introduced in 1970 when it was known as the retirement pension. It was designed to bridge the gap between the standard social welfare pension age, which at that time was 70 years of age, and retirement at age 65. Because of the purpose for which the scheme was introduced, a key qualifying condition was that a person had to be retired in order to qualify for...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Jan 2008)

Martin Cullen: There follows for your information a table showing expenditure on Rent Supplement in the HSE South area from 2005 to date. Expenditure on Rent Supplement from 2005 to date in HSE South Year HSE South â'¬m 2005 43.56 2006 46.30 2007* 49.21 2008* 2.81 *Provisional.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Jan 2008)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 722 and 747 together. Under the terms of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, an exceptional needs payment (ENP) may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which the applicant is unable to meet out of his/her own resources. There is no...